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There's 29 comments here and every single one is neutral or positive about Flux as an idea. Am I the only one who used it, and hated the fact that my colours w

There's 29 comments here and every single one is neutral or positive about Flux as an idea. Am I the only one who used it, and hated the fact that my colours were obviously all wrong? Each time I used my computer at night, I noticed that everything was tinted red, and it had no obvious effect on my sleep.

melted 11y ago
Give it time. You'll get used to it after a while, to the point where a couple of weeks later you won't perceive the colors as "wrong" (assuming no other light source in the room). You'll just perceive them as slightly warmer.
- seanwilson 11y ago
  Doesn't this get in the way if you're doing graphical work where you need to know the colours are right?
  - melted 11y ago
    That's not what it's for, though. For graphics you need D6500, there's no way around it, circadian rhythm be damned. This is mostly for reading things late at night.
  - AndrewKemendo 11y ago
    There is a large button in the UI that says "Disable for one hour (for doing color-sensitive work)" specifically for this reason.
- izacus 11y ago
  It still bothered me after a few weeks, specially since "automatic" setting started making my screen red at like 18:00, more than 6 hours before I usually go to sleep. It was incredibly annoying :/ Maybe I just didn't see that much benefit because I never look at screens in rooms without additional (yellowish) lighting.
  - meric 11y ago
    I customise mine so it's not as red - just apply enough tint to match my lightbulb. Without Flux the screen feels off because every other light source from inside and outside the house has a warm tint; The screen just stands out too much. But I agree, the default setting is too much.
    - melted 11y ago
      You should probably change your lightbulb to something like Philips Hue, and make _it_ more red.
Terribledactyl 11y ago
I have 2 issues with flux, one personal one science related. personal) I'm colorblind and it really messed with my ability to guess at the appropriate colors, and sometimes made it impossible to read text on the screen. (Red on black is hard for me) science) One of their more prominent articles showcases a study of how reading on a stock iPad can mess up your sleep a lot, but reading a book with standard bulb (much warmer than the iPad backlight) has a much smaller effect. I remember studying the effect of light in neuroscience classes in college, and blue light is potent, but so is total light received. Indirect light from bulb, or having a device blast light directly into your retina. Never stood a chance. Just shifting the colors can only reduce so much light. For example, max out the brightness on any non oled based screen with a completely black image. You still see light even though those gates have done the best they can. My general impression of the reporting is "lets throw a bunch of science at you, which doesn't quite say what we do, and hope you jump to our conclusions."
- tacos 11y ago
  That reporting starts from the research links on the F.lux site which 1) don't really say what they they seem to think they say and 2) often conveniently hide behind paywalls. The F.lux team genuinely seems to care about human health yet they haven't bothered to write the equivalent of a three page term paper about what they're basing their work on the past 8 years. It's odd. Even in this thread (as in the other six or seven F.lux threads that have popped up on HN lately) smart people are saying things that simply don't make sense. We're basically dealing with the equivalent of blue-blocker sunglasses from the 80s and it's odd seeing HN commenters spout the same informercial-grade rhetoric I laugh at on late night television.
  - dota_fanatic 11y ago
    Some people, perhaps against their better judgement, like to use screens even as they're getting closer and closer to sleep. Some even use screens in bed. The difference in harshness of a 5800K screen and a 2700K screen is quite easy to feel in an otherwise dark room, late in ones "day", and once you're used to the latter, it is very uncomfortable to look directly at the former. One of them feels better on your eyes than the other. It's that simple! How exactly does this not make sense? Enjoy your eye strain...? :-/ I find your laughing at our mutual experience and desire to share it with others, so that they may too use screens with less discomfort, odd. And unlike an infomercial, we're not trying to sell anything.
Obi_Juan_Kenobi 11y ago
A few things: * You can adjust the color temp it goes down to. I'd try a more moderate setting, at least at first. * You can have it transition gradually. * If the room you're in is lit with daylight bulbs, you won't really benefit from it and it will look weird. * It's no good for doing color-sensitive work, so no photo editing, etc. I really can't imagine using a computer in the evening without it.
_fizz_buzz_ 11y ago
Every time there is a thread about f.lux I get the feeling that I stepped into a cult meeting ;) Maybe it's different if you have trouble sleeping, but it seemed to be completely irrelevant to my sleep and I don't want my screen to look like cheap instagram filter.
samizdatum 11y ago
I used it for well over a year, but I noticed I was always disabling it as soon as it turned on. Eventually, I realised that having an accurate, carefully-calibrated display was pointless if I was going to use f.lux. I tentatively tried using melatonin tablets instead, and I've found it works really well for me. Set an alarm for about 30-40 minutes before you want to go to sleep, take the tablet (sublingually) when the alarm goes off, and you'll notice you start feeling sleepy right about when you need to fall asleep. Obviously, this kind of exogenous melatonin intake can only crudely approximate the curves for plasma melatonin levels resulting from endogenous production in the presence of zero artificial light, but using f.lux only removes one source of blue light. Sure, you might feel sleepy staring at your screen, but blue light inhibits melatonin synthesis so strongly you could turn on your bedroom light and have your melatonin production bottom out. IIRC, you can significantly attenuate melatonin production with light levels of ~100 lx, which is comparable to a really dim room. Good luck getting ready for bed in complete darkness. You also need to titrate your dosage to find the right levels. For me, 0.2-0.5mg is all I need to achieve the necessary sleepiness to motivate me to get to sleep. I can take more with no noticeable effects, but I know others who report headaches the morning after. Also note that the older you are, the less melatonin you need.

melted 11y ago

Give it time. You'll get used to it after a while, to the point where a couple of weeks later you won't perceive the colors as "wrong" (assuming no other light source in the room). You'll just perceive them as slightly warmer.

seanwilson 11y ago
Doesn't this get in the way if you're doing graphical work where you need to know the colours are right?
- melted 11y ago
  That's not what it's for, though. For graphics you need D6500, there's no way around it, circadian rhythm be damned. This is mostly for reading things late at night.
- AndrewKemendo 11y ago
  There is a large button in the UI that says "Disable for one hour (for doing color-sensitive work)" specifically for this reason.
izacus 11y ago
It still bothered me after a few weeks, specially since "automatic" setting started making my screen red at like 18:00, more than 6 hours before I usually go to sleep. It was incredibly annoying :/ Maybe I just didn't see that much benefit because I never look at screens in rooms without additional (yellowish) lighting.
- meric 11y ago
  I customise mine so it's not as red - just apply enough tint to match my lightbulb. Without Flux the screen feels off because every other light source from inside and outside the house has a warm tint; The screen just stands out too much. But I agree, the default setting is too much.
  - melted 11y ago
    You should probably change your lightbulb to something like Philips Hue, and make _it_ more red.

Terribledactyl 11y ago

I have 2 issues with flux, one personal one science related. personal) I'm colorblind and it really messed with my ability to guess at the appropriate colors, and sometimes made it impossible to read text on the screen. (Red on black is hard for me) science) One of their more prominent articles showcases a study of how reading on a stock iPad can mess up your sleep a lot, but reading a book with standard bulb (much warmer than the iPad backlight) has a much smaller effect. I remember studying the effect of light in neuroscience classes in college, and blue light is potent, but so is total light received. Indirect light from bulb, or having a device blast light directly into your retina. Never stood a chance. Just shifting the colors can only reduce so much light. For example, max out the brightness on any non oled based screen with a completely black image. You still see light even though those gates have done the best they can. My general impression of the reporting is "lets throw a bunch of science at you, which doesn't quite say what we do, and hope you jump to our conclusions."

tacos 11y ago
That reporting starts from the research links on the F.lux site which 1) don't really say what they they seem to think they say and 2) often conveniently hide behind paywalls. The F.lux team genuinely seems to care about human health yet they haven't bothered to write the equivalent of a three page term paper about what they're basing their work on the past 8 years. It's odd. Even in this thread (as in the other six or seven F.lux threads that have popped up on HN lately) smart people are saying things that simply don't make sense. We're basically dealing with the equivalent of blue-blocker sunglasses from the 80s and it's odd seeing HN commenters spout the same informercial-grade rhetoric I laugh at on late night television.
- dota_fanatic 11y ago
  Some people, perhaps against their better judgement, like to use screens even as they're getting closer and closer to sleep. Some even use screens in bed. The difference in harshness of a 5800K screen and a 2700K screen is quite easy to feel in an otherwise dark room, late in ones "day", and once you're used to the latter, it is very uncomfortable to look directly at the former. One of them feels better on your eyes than the other. It's that simple! How exactly does this not make sense? Enjoy your eye strain...? :-/ I find your laughing at our mutual experience and desire to share it with others, so that they may too use screens with less discomfort, odd. And unlike an infomercial, we're not trying to sell anything.

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 11y ago

A few things: * You can adjust the color temp it goes down to. I'd try a more moderate setting, at least at first. * You can have it transition gradually. * If the room you're in is lit with daylight bulbs, you won't really benefit from it and it will look weird. * It's no good for doing color-sensitive work, so no photo editing, etc. I really can't imagine using a computer in the evening without it.

_fizz_buzz_ 11y ago

Every time there is a thread about f.lux I get the feeling that I stepped into a cult meeting ;) Maybe it's different if you have trouble sleeping, but it seemed to be completely irrelevant to my sleep and I don't want my screen to look like cheap instagram filter.

samizdatum 11y ago

I used it for well over a year, but I noticed I was always disabling it as soon as it turned on. Eventually, I realised that having an accurate, carefully-calibrated display was pointless if I was going to use f.lux. I tentatively tried using melatonin tablets instead, and I've found it works really well for me. Set an alarm for about 30-40 minutes before you want to go to sleep, take the tablet (sublingually) when the alarm goes off, and you'll notice you start feeling sleepy right about when you need to fall asleep. Obviously, this kind of exogenous melatonin intake can only crudely approximate the curves for plasma melatonin levels resulting from endogenous production in the presence of zero artificial light, but using f.lux only removes one source of blue light. Sure, you might feel sleepy staring at your screen, but blue light inhibits melatonin synthesis so strongly you could turn on your bedroom light and have your melatonin production bottom out. IIRC, you can significantly attenuate melatonin production with light levels of ~100 lx, which is comparable to a really dim room. Good luck getting ready for bed in complete darkness. You also need to titrate your dosage to find the right levels. For me, 0.2-0.5mg is all I need to achieve the necessary sleepiness to motivate me to get to sleep. I can take more with no noticeable effects, but I know others who report headaches the morning after. Also note that the older you are, the less melatonin you need.